Still Surviving (Book 5): Dark Secrets:

by Craven III, Boyd

  “We have twenty minutes. Can you see an opening we can squeeze through?” I asked, putting on the holster for the BFR again, now that my shirt was off.

  “That’s all they’ll give me. The guard is pulling back right now. Hopefully Spider’s forces think he’s forcing them to give ground and they’ll pursue into an area where the artillery can be called in. Apparently, the hillside the bunker is in is in the way unless they move the guns. So we’re inviting his men into the kill box. It should also open up a window so we can get the kids out of the area before this whole place is bombed flat.”

  “That’s cutting it fine,” Jess said, “but doable. We better get in close before they start the draw back.”

  “Let’s go kill all these sumbitches,” Grandma said. “Besides, all this playing army is hell on my joints. I’m going to be laid up for days with my arthritis.”

  We worked our way down, and we could already see the Guard giving ground, the KGR forces pressing the attack. Raider whined and then body checked me in the hip just as the ground erupted from a gunshot. Linda was faster than all of us; she ducked for cover, then pivoted and sighted up the hill. A lone shot went off, then there was an explosion on top of the hill where somebody started screaming.

  “RPG and sniper. Probably at the spot you gassed them from,” she said casually.

  “Wait, did you get a lucky shot in, or are you that good?” I asked brushing myself off.

  “Break my daughter’s heart, you’ll find out one way or another,” she snarked back, her gun already sweeping for more targets.

  We got back to our feet and started moving slower until we had twenty feet of open ground between us and the front door of the cabin. We’d be exposed, but it didn’t seem like anybody else was paying attention to us.

  “Let’s go,” Linda said, standing and running.

  I held my left hand out to Grandma, pulling her along with me. The long gun was bouncing off my already bruised back, but I took half a heartbeat to undo the snap and draw the BFR. It was a lot like Emily’s gun, but the bore looked the size of a city block to me when I first looked at it. Now, it felt like death incarnate. Not for us, but others. Linda knocked, waited. We stood there in the open as Linda knocked again, and I turned to look to see if anybody was here, but the fighting had moved on, the KGR pressing their advantage I assumed.

  I shouldn’t have. A loud gunshot splintered part of the doorway, making Linda drop to the floor. Another blast came through over her head. She was trying to bring her gun to bear, but she’d fallen on it. I let go of Grandma’s hand and rushed in front of the door, firing two shoots through it. The recoil was about what I’d expected from a hand cannon, but it wasn’t wrist breaking by any means. I heard a thud behind the door and a moan. I tried the handle, but it was locked. I kicked the door, but it didn’t budge.

  The cabin was fortified and the door was supposed to stop small arms fire, but evidentially the guy behind it had a rifle. I had one, but nothing big bored like he was using. I did however, have be a beautiful fine revolver. I shot the spot where the brass hardware went into the doorjamb and gave it almost four hundred and five grains of lead. It was like throwing a fridge at the door, the lock exploded, the wood splintering, pushed back by the point blank blast. I kicked it and it swung in, hitting somebody who was starting to get up.

  “Támadás,” I snarled as three furry missiles shot past my legs, grabbing and ripping at Spider. He flailed about with one arm as the four humans rushed inside. My shot had taken him high in his right chest, just under the collar bone. It had to be painful, especially with almost four hundred pounds of canine biting and ripping at him.

  A petite figure wearing the black uniform of the KGR came darting out, kicking the rifle away from Larry Killion, AKA, Spider. Jess gave the command to break off the attack, and the dogs darted. I started to raise my revolver when the figure pulled out an almost identical one from a tooled leather holster on her hip. Her?

  “Emily?” I asked, my gun hand shaking, almost having pulled the trigger.

  “Hey bro,” she said, flipping her bangs with a head movement.

  “Emily, what are you doing?” Spider asked her, his voice shocked.

  “Weren’t you curious why it took me a few days to make your last camp, Daddy?” she asked him, pointing the gun at him now.

  He took the opportunity to press his hand over his gunshot wound, as blood ran down his front. He scooted backwards until his back was against a wall.

  “I figured you went looking for your sisters-in-law,” he shot back, a puzzled look on his face.

  “I have my sister-in-law right here with me,” she said, pointing over her shoulder at Jess. “I just did something that you’ve been training me for my entire adult life,” she hissed.

  “You didn’t…” He suddenly had an ashen tone to his complexion as he worked something out.

  “Your two ‘boys in the know’? Young and McKinney? They work for me,” Emily thundered. “Your double cross idea was the perfect way to set you up in a triple cross and right a lot of wrongs. Things I’ve done, things you’ve done, things I pretended were part of the past, and the past doesn’t matter.”

  I felt like I should say something, but I didn’t, instead I turned to Raider. “Go find the kids,” I told him.

  He took off, nails scrabbling on the hardwood floor, and I noticed the cabin had an old outdoorsy rustic décor inside here. Diesel, of course, followed.

  “They’re in the cellar, door off the kitchen,” Emily called over her shoulder, never taking her eyes off of a now smirking Spider.

  The dogs took off in that direction, apparently understanding her perfectly. Raider let out a happy bark and I knew he'd found them.

  "You betrayed me," Spider said, the smile still tugging at the side of his lips.

  "Raider! Diesel!" I could hear Mary's voice scream in joy.

  "She likes dogs," Emily said by way of an explanation, “and yes, I betrayed you. You didn't even bat an eye when your own men kidnapped me and Mary. You didn't even care. You want to know why I think that?" she asked, cocking the hammer on her BFR, making it sound like a heavy piece of machinery.

  "I already told you, I didn't know you were still stuck here. Your useless husband was supposed to be dead and buried before the trip. I guess you didn't do that either, did you?"

  "No, my brother did it for me," she said savagely. "And I had to find out from one of your plants who he really was."

  "You never checked back in, I knew we should have extracted you--"

  "No, no you demanded me back for your 'harem'. I got news for you Daddy, never again. I'm never letting a man abuse me that way ever again. Not you, not my husband..." she kept going, but Grandma let out a choking sound and I turned to see her with tears in her eyes as she raised her own revolver.

  Outside the gunfire had all but gone silent, an ominous thing.

  "Is it safe?" Mary called from the doorway that led into a kitchen area.

  “I want you to gather all the kids and run them into the bedrooms. I need to talk to Grandpa K for a minute.”

  “Ok, the ladies back here are too bossy anyway,” Mary said, but halfway through her voice became muffled.

  “You really think I’m going to let you get away with this?” Spider asked as a stream of our group came running out of the door to our left.

  “Get everyone outside, quick,” Emily said. “We’re going to make a break for it any moment now.”

  “Why, aren’t there bullets still flying around?” The lady who Marshall had started to date asked, and for the life of me I couldn’t remember her name.

  “Because we don’t want them to see this,” Emily said, savagely pointing her hand cannon, “and we’re getting out soon, like I said.”

  “Oh…” She followed the rest of them as the mass of ladies and kids, then some of the men from our group trickled off.

  Curt and Margie stopped, standing near me and Grandma.

  “Where’s Leste
r?” Curt asked.

  “You know about him?” I asked Curt.

  “No … we’ve been pretty cut off—”

  “Lester was the traitor,” I told him simply.

  The dogs came bounding upstairs, their tails wagging, barking softly.

  “Go with the kids,” told them both.

  Raider was more than happy, but Diesel didn’t question things. He took off into one of the two or three bedrooms down the hallway behind us.

  “He was?” Curt asked. “How did he—”

  “Don’t have time,” Linda snapped to them. “Curt, take them up the twelve blue route for bugout. We’re about to be carpet bombed.”

  “I… got it,” Curt said, and Margie nodded.

  “Linda, can you take my grandma out of here with them?” I asked her.

  “I don’t want to leave you behind,” Grandma said.

  “It’s for the best,” I told her. “I won’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you.”

  “Besides, he’s got two badass chicas and a furry missile to keep him safe,” Emily shot back.

  I opened and then closed my mouth. I wasn’t about to have this debate, right here, right now.

  “You need to get on the radio and call your men off. It’s over,” I told him, hoping to end things without bloodshed.

  Spider grinned at me. This monstrosity was my father? I never would have done what he had done and been able to smile ever again. I realized at that moment, as brilliant as he seemed, as dangerous as he was, he was just as crazy. Linda and Grandma left with a wave. Spider watched me watching him as he tried not to stare at the departing ladies.

  “Sure thing,” he said with a grin. “Base station radio in the basement here. Henry kept it in a faraday cage, batteries charged."

  “Cellar,” Jess corrected.

  “Cellar then. Can you let me bandage myself up?"

  "Once we're downstairs," Jess answered. "I have a kit in my pack."

  "And I make the call, then what?" Spider asked, getting to his feet slowly.

  "That's all up to you," Jessica told him. "If we captured you alive, we're to have given you to Young and McKinney’s group. So that's what we'll probably do, but we have about ten minutes or less before this whole valley gets vaporized.”

  Spider nodded, still grinning, though I could tell it pained him.

  "Wes, you go first to the bottom and cover us. Spider and Jess will bring up the middle and I'll come down last," Emily said to us.

  I listened and went in the direction everyone had come from. The kitchen was small and spartan compared to the decor of the rest of the cabin. It had white painted wooden cabinets with a metallic flake Formica top. The sink was stainless steel with a hand pump on the side. A propane tank sat between the fridge and gas range, copper wire plumbing them together. I thought the small propane tank weird, because we had the setup at the house with a big propane pig... and then I got it. There was no way to service it here, so the smaller tanks were easier to hump in and out... or the only way to get them.

  To the left was an open set of shelves, where canned food in glass jars were lined up neatly. Beyond that was an open doorway, and darkness. I headed in that direction and looked in the doorway. Stairs descended into a darker cellar than I would have expected. I made my way down slowly. The treads creaked and squeaked as I went down. The basement walls were stone, mortared in place. The floor looked to be large 3x3 paving stones. When I stepped on one, I heard the crunch of gravel beneath it. It was essentially a large root cellar, if it weren't for the stacks of pallets and supplies on one side, and a fuel dump on the other. I looked up and saw the rest following, but Raider pushed past everyone and came down here with me.

  "Good boy," I said, petting him with my left hand as I thought about how dangerous it was to have stored all of these propane tanks together.

  If they were full, there must have been close to a hundred of them. The wall beside the stairwell had a work bench setup with a couple of stools. The radio was there. I walked over to that, feeling Raider bumping into me as he tried to stick to me like glue. There was a reading lamp over a stack of notebooks and pencils, and of course, the radio. I snapped the light on just as Spider made it down. I scanned the bench for tools, or any weapons, and didn't see anything.

  "There," Jess said. "Take a seat, keep your one hand on your shoulder, other palm down on the table while I dig my kit out.”

  I saw my shot had gone through and through. The hole in the back was half the size of my fist and in the dim light, I could see pieces of bone and wood coming out. The blood loss I was seeing down his back was probably only partially to blame for his ashen color. His arm was going to be useless if he lived past today, unless he got serious medical attention, and fast. Otherwise he had a few minutes of life at the most.

  "I must admit, Emily," he coughed, "I brushed aside all concerns of you double crossing me. I didn't think you had any backbone left."

  "Yeah, you just about liked to rip that out of me, didn't you?" Emily asked. "Like I said, just like my husband, I'll never take the abuse from you anymore. Make the damned call." She emphasized that last bit with putting the revolver to his head. "We're done talking. Jess, if you want to fix him up, make sure you do it after the call. Wouldn't want to waste good materials on somebody who might try something cute and get more holes in him."

  "Raider, come," I said, moving away from Spider's side of the bench to stand beside Jess. I knew the penetration my revolver had... it'd gone through a wooden door, punched a golf ball sized hole in the front and the back was utter devastation. I knew her .30-30 wasn't as powerful, but it still was a rifle round, and I didn't want to find out first hand it's penetration abilities.

  Raider followed as Emily picked up the handset with her left hand and thumped it down in front of him.

  "Patch me up first, I'm losing blood fast," Spider begged.

  "How about this," Emily cooed, "make the damned call fast, and you won't bleed out. You're the one wasting time here, time you don't have."

  "I'm your father, how could you do this to me?" he asked, his hands starting to shake.

  “You should have thought about that the first time you decided I was old enough to try to bed,” she said, her voice stern.

  Her words sickened me, but I wasn’t surprised to learn he had abused her.

  “Fine,” he said, his whole body starting to tremble. “Give me the mic. I’ll make the call while you patch me up.”

  I watched as Jess got the pack out. She pulled out a package of sterile gauze and tore the plastic wrapper loose and started making a wad. She pressed one against his back as Spider keyed up the mic.

  “All resistance is to cease,” Spider said, his voice weak. “We’re being drawn into a trap, and we’re over matched. God has chosen his side in this battle and although I once believed we were doing God’s work, I was wrong. As of this moment, lay down your arms and surrender. In these acts, do we have a chance to live through these turbulent times. Larry Killion, otherwise known as Spider or The Boss, signing out for the last time.”

  He tried to put the mic down, but it slid from his fingers. He used his foot to turn the stool so he was facing me, his good arm bracing him upright.

  “What a horribly terrible monster you must think me. I had hoped…” he coughed weakly, “that our first face to face meeting would be rather joyous.” He started leaning backwards, and a second later I realized he was passing out.

  Emily stepped forward, grabbing him. Raider and I were almost ran over, knocked to the side. Emily may have hated the man, but a lifetime of instincts were hard to overcome without thinking. She grabbed his vest and, with a strength I couldn’t have believed, straightened him on the stool. Spider looked at her and with his good hand brushed his knuckles against her cheek.

  “I still love y—”

  A booming chatter erupted from the far side of the room. Two dots erupted from Emily’s neck, and one hit her in the back of the head,
snapping it forward, spraying red and gray all over Spider’s face.

  “No!” Spider cried weakly as Emily’s body fell across his, dragging both to the floor.

  “Emily!” Jessica screamed, dropping with them.

  Another chatter went buzzing by my head as another three round burst smacked into the woodwork of the basement, ricocheting where it hit the stone behind it. I spun and fired the already cocked BFR at a figure in black that had come up from behind a pallet full of supplies. My shot took him center mass and I cocked the big revolver again. It sounded like a heavy ratchet being worked. The figure was thrown back into the wall, his gun went flying. When I fired again, my view was obscured from the second black powder discharge.

  “Raider, get the gun,” I screamed.

  I could see Jessica already working on Emily from the corner of my eye, but I knew she was gone. I’d seen the round go through her head. Rage filled me as my dog did what I asked, running forward and dragging the rifle away from the crumpled form by its sling. I strode forward, putting the BFR on a pallet, pulling the switchblade from my pocket. I pressed the button, letting the blade spring up.

  I rounded the pallet where the man went down and saw part of the wall opened into a low tunnel. The man himself though, was pulling the straps of his vest off, making gasping sounds. I looked and saw he had a pistol on his hip, but he wasn’t worried about that. It was as if whatever was in his vest was burning him and he had no other thought than to get it off. I waited, and noticed it was Lester.

  “A secret exit,” I called over my shoulder.

  “My way out,” Spider said softly, his voice bubbling behind me.

  “Get up Les,” I snarled.

  Les rolled onto his back as he finally got the vest loose and tossed it to the side. I could see his black shirt was slick, and the bottom of his jawline had cuts that had just started bleeding from something. Spalling? I strode over, with Raider at my side, snarling and took his pistol, throwing it behind me onto the stack of pallets. Then I patted him down one handed, throwing a fixed blade knife to the side where it clattered on the floor. Les was taking huge gasps of air, his hands touching his chest. His eyes never left the switch blade in my right hand. I made sure it was always in his eyesight.